Last piece of US ship removed from reef

MANILA, Philippines - Seventy-three days after the USS Guardian ran aground in Tubbataha Reef, salvors finally removed the last section of the minesweeper from the atoll yesterday.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Palawan District commander Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said he received information that the stern, the fourth and final section of the USS Guardian’s wooden hull, has been lifted from the reef around 1:50 p.m. yesterday.

The salvors hired by the US government worked through the Holy Week to cut and lift the four sections of the 68-meter long wooden hull of the US Navy warship that consisted of the bow, auxiliary machine room, main machine room and the stern.

Evangelista, however, said that while they have taken the final piece of the grounded vessel from the atoll, the work is not yet over.

“The salvors would still have to clean up and remove the debris from the vessel. The clean up might last until April 2,” he said.

During the course of removal operations, parts of the USS Guardian were transferred to the barge Archon Tide by a crane on the M/T Jascon 25.

The Archon Tide in turn passed the parts to another barge, the S-7000, which will transport the ship parts to a US facility in Japan.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation across the Philippines. 

The US government has apologized for the accident, which it initially blamed on faulty maps. The Philippines said it would impose fines.

Due to fears that towing it to deeper waters would inflict more damage on the reef, the US government agreed to scrap and dismantle the Guardian, which was worth about $277 million.

Tubbataha Reef marine park superintendent Angelique Songco said under Philippine laws, ships that run aground on Tubbataha are fined P24,000 for every square meter of damaged reef.